"Don't try it again."
"Get off this boat, I'm telling you."
Higgins nudged Roger.
"I've got old Betsy under my arm," he suggested.
"Then line 'em up and hold 'em here," exploded the young man. "Let's
quit fooling. I'll start the engine. You make one of them take the
wheel. They can't keep me from seeing that land now."
Old Betsy, large and ancient, black and rusty, but extremely reliable,
came out of Higgins' arm holster with a jerk.
"Shove 'em high!" he commanded. "It's a hold up. Captain, you get up
there and take that wheel and steer honest and true upstream for the
Colony. The rest of you get up in front where I can watch you. No
tricks. Fooling's over."
"This is piracy, of course," called Roger from the engine pit as he
filled a priming cup, "and you'll have a good case against us--if you
take it into court. But from what I've seen and heard I don't think
you'll monkey with the courts--don't think you like the word. So when
we get to where you're going I'll give you boys five dollars apiece and
call it square. What do you say?"
The captain looked round with the sickness of deadly fear in his eyes.
"Don't make us go up there like this," he begged hoarsely. "For God's
sake, don't do that!"
VII
Payne paused with a hand on the flywheel.
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